If the cent were eliminated, how long would the words "cent" and "penny" ....

[James_OldeTowne]

... remain in the lexicon? They're used often, such as:

 

I wouldn't give one red cent for it

 

A penny for your thoughts

 

A penniless person

 

penny loafer

 

etc...

 

Your thoughts?

[MTHead-migration]

Decades before it disappeared from usage.

 

"For two cents I'd...."

 

"Penny wise and Pound foolish."

 

"In for a penny, in for a pound."

 

"That must have cost you a pretty penny."

 

"Honor the penny and you will be worth the dollar."

 

"Spend a Penny." An out of date saying for using a restroom when pay toilets cost a penny.

[jtryka]

It wouldn't matter until the dollar was like a cent and all subsidiary coinage was suspended. Even if the smallest donomination is a nickel, we would still say, 30 cents or 70 cents etc, even if there was no longer a penny. If we become like Mexico in the 1980s and 1990s where the smallest coin was 50-pesos, and when the centavos days were over, then you could worry.

[TJ'S Coins]

I think it would take decades if not a couple of generations for the terms "penny" and "cent" to drop from common usage. My father used to give me "two bits" for my allowance years ago. How long have we been without a pieces of eight?

 

With the billions of Lincoln cents in circulation, it will be a long time before the cent or penny is forgotten.

[michael]

2 generations to be completely wiped out

[pendragon1998]

Bah - penny for your thoughts will always be with us. How about "penny-wise, pound-foolish"?

[physics-fan3.14]

I'll put my 2 cents in here - I don't think it will ever disappear. In a hundred years, people might not exactly remember what their sayings mean, it may be relegated to a piece of trivia coin collectors throw at each other. But if you think of all the sayings we have that we don't remember exactly what they mean, the penny might just join their ranks.

 

And how about "A Penny saved is a penny earned."

[World Colonial]

Unfortunately, when this last statement was coined, it was true. Now it is a waste of time. How many people even bother to pick one up off the ground? And if you drop one, you might just get fined for littering.

[BULLY]

I'm going to go out on a limb and go against the group conventional wisdom and think that the terminology could disappear faster than anyone imagines.

 

So many things people don't remember:

 

Do they really remember the Alamo?

 

When asked why there are fireworks on 07/04, the answer from most people is that the holiday is "The Fourth of July." When pressed, so many people cannot answer the simple piece of American history that it is INDEPENDENCE DAY. Not exactly obscure trivia. Is it just me, or is this basic history that elementary school children know?

 

ONE FIFTH of Americans cannot find the United States on a world map. Lest we forget Miss Teen USA's 2007 from the great state of South Carolina (whose presidential primary we should care about, why?) when asked WHY she thought 1/5th of Americans could not find the U.S. on a map, her answer was, well, so now immortalized I cannot do it justice. Her words speak more eloquently than I could ever hope to do. See them for yourself on YouTube:

 

The best part? She was thanked for that answer and got applause. Does no one recognize that her answer is more scary than the fact that so many Americans can't find our own country?

 

This is just tip of the iceberg stuff, and I realize I am going against the grain here, but I've never been one to shy away from controversy, such that it is anyway.

Therefore, I'll take the contrarian position that should the cent be eliminated, it could be forgotten easily, and quickly.